(Originally posted September
13, 2000, before the Yugoslav Presidential elections, this
article has turned out undesirably accurate. However it
perhaps underestimates the capacity for clarity of vision of
ordinary Yugoslav people.)

"Kostunica would, if elected, be in
a very weak position even if, and this is a heck of an
'if', he had the nerve to resist the US goals called for
in the G17 program. And remember, he has endorsed that
program. So why would he fight it?

"And so the entire network of US-controlled
NGO's (non-governmental organizations) fake-independent
media, student organizations trained by the CIA (like
Otpor) would of necessity provide the personnel for his
administration. The US would then be in a position, for
the first time, to infiltrate its "independent
democratic forces" into high government positions.
What a vindication for Clinton!" [From text below]

In the article "Otpor, An American Tragedy" I said I
do not believe Americans should meddle in the affairs of other
countries. But, as I noted, the US government is already meddling
in Yugoslavia. The purpose of Emperor's Clothes is to critically
evaluate political developments, especially as these relate to
the US Empire, and to ferret out the truth hidden amidst what we
so often find to be media lies.

Some Serbs, and some in the Serbian Diaspora, support the
candidacy of Vojislav Kostunica for President in the Yugoslav
election. The outcome of that election is quite important, not
only to Yugoslavs but to people everywhere. The outrageous attack
by NATO on Yugoslavia, the people's unwillingness to give in,
their ability to rebuild, have moved the world and inspired a new
spirit of resistance. Who would have expected a small country to
show such power of purpose and to act with such dignity as these
people, bombed by the West, driven from their homes, demonized in
the press, but not broken. But this is no surprise for anyone who
knows the history of the Balkans. The Serbs have done what seemed
impossible many times, including during World War Two.

The supporters of Kostunica argue, to themselves and others,
that if Kostunica could only "beat Milosevich", maybe
the West would have some small mercy and stop attacking
Yugoslavia, and then the lives of ordinary people would improve.
Is this true? Or is Kostunica's candidacy a focus for the latest
Western intrigue against Yugoslavia?

Recently, a friend of ours commented favorably about
Kostunica, writing: "If Kostunica were to win [the Yugoslav
elections] he would not owe this victory to anybody but himself
and the voters."

A careful examination of the facts unfortunately leads to the
opposite conclusion.

The US government has given millions of dollars to the Serbian
"democratic opposition," including politicians like
Zoran Djindjic, radio stations like B292, and many organizations
(called NGOs, or non-governmental organizations). If we include
Montenegrin leader Milo Djukanovic, the bribery figure must be
near the $100,000,000 (US) voted last year by the US Congress to
support what the Senate called "independent" forces in
Yugoslavia. "Independent!" Isn't it amazing that
''independence'' is defined by the US government as taking money
from people who are trying to shatter your country? (1)

$100,000,000 is a vast sum in Yugoslavia.

The Western press pictures Kostunica as a lone wolf,
challenging the establishment. In fact he is the candidate of a
coalition that includes most of those who take millions of
dollars from the US government. Whatever Kostunica may wish, he
is dependent on these people and he can be cast aside in a moment
by his "allies."

Kostunica Picks (or is picked by)
His Allies

On July 26, the leader of the Democratic Party, Zoran
Djindjic, said:

"As far as a joint candidate for federal elections is
concerned, there are two things we have to decide if we agree
to fight those elections. First, to agree to lend our support
to one candidate, and, second, to check thoroughly and see
which candidate stands the greatest chances of winning. This
should be the only criterion." ['Agence France Presse',
8-1-00)

Djindjic, notorious for being on the US payroll, was a key
force in establishing Kostunica's candidacy. On August 2, 'Agence
France Presse' reported that the two men attended a closed-door
meeting in Montenegro. Together, Djindjic and Kostunica tried to
persuade Montenegro's pro-NATO government to support the "democratic
opposition" candidate:

"The Serbian delegation, including Zoran Djindjic of
the Democratic Party and Vojislav Kostunica of the Democratic
Movement for Serbia (DSS) -- the most likely Milosevic
challenger.

"The meeting took place a day after US Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright met Montenegrin President Milo
Djukanovic in Rome and urged Yugoslavia's opposition groups
to drop threats to boycott the elections and unite to defeat
Milosevic. ..." [end quote] ( August 2, 2000, "Agence
France Press")

Concerning Albright's trip to Rome:

"As the presumptive opposition candidate Vojislav
Kostunica, appeals for support...In addition to election
issues Albright said she had discussed with Djukanovic ways
in which to increase assistance to Montenegro which is in the
throes of an economic crisis. ("Agence France Presse,"
Aug. 1, 2000, my emphasis)

In other words, Albright offered to bribe Djukanovic to
support Kostunica.

However, Djukanovic still held out, and Kostunica criticized
him ('AP', 8-15) but finally, on September 11th, we read that
Djukanovic came around. He has endorsed Kostunica. Did Albright
finally meet his price?

Surely, one aspect of that price is for Djukanovic's party to
get lots of plums in a Kostunica government. No aid is free.

Which brings us to the question: what does it mean for
Kostunica to woo Djukanovic? Saying Kostunica "is just
trying to win" avoids the issue. Because whatever Kostunica
seems to be, whatever impression he has made IN THE PAST, he
DEFINES HIMSELF in the present by what he does. And the key thing
a politician does to define himself is: he appeals for support.
By judging where he goes for support, by judging what it is those
people want, you can discern where he stands, better than by his
words.

Djukanovic's core base of support is pro-secessionist
Albanians and pro-fascist ethnic Croatians. Within Yugoslavia,
Kostunica has wooed and gained the support of pro-secessionists
in the Sandjak region, in southern Serbia. And of course he is
the official candidate of the US-dominated "democratic
opposition." Whatever he used to be, this tells us what he
''is" now.

A few weeks ago, Kostunica attacked an ostentatious display of
US interference in Yugoslavia's affairs. (More recently he
actually praised Madeline Albright for restraining herself and
not being so showy about who she supported!) Meanwhile, he woos
Milo Djukanovic whose survival depends on US mercy - both because
the US pours millions into Djukanovic's coffers and because the
Italian police have the goods on his government for cigarette
smuggling. If ever he should displease the US, he'd get the
Noriega treatment.(2)

Kostunica Endorses G17
Principles

Meanwhile, Kostunica and his "democratic
opposition" have signed onto a platform presented by the
neoliberal Belgrade think tank, G17. The program is a nightmare.
We will post key provisions with detailed comments on Emperor's
Clothes ASAP. We will also post an interview just finished with
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky who knows a few things about G17. But
meanwhile, here is a summary of the main features of this plan,
endorsed by Kostunica and his coalition members. Frankly, the
thing is so awful it's hard to know where to start.

!) It calls for the "option" of using the German
mark as one of two forms of Yugoslav currency; the entry of
foreign banks into Yugoslavia; the integration of the Yugoslav
bank into the world banking system. These measures would strip
the Yugoslav government of its ability to determine prices and
wages, specifically wages of poor people, and would put
Yugoslavia at the mercy of the NATO powers, particularly the US,
which has vividly demonstrated in Kosovo what it would like to do
to all of Serbia.

2) It calls for introducing the economic reforms which have
devastated formerly socialist countries, e.g., Bulgaria. These
measures do not constitute "going from socialism to
capitalism." Yugoslavia is not a pure socialist economy by a
long shot. It is a mixed economy. Introduction of extreme
economic reforms will produce the same results as in Russia: the
devastation of national industries, the impoverishment of
millions. And of course, with increasing poverty, ethnic fighting.

3) It states that after a one year grace period for the
poorest and most disadvantaged, complete free market principles
would be imposed. The working people, including a million
refugees whose conditions are already difficult, would entirely
lose the social safety net. They would be buying food at European
prices in an economy at a Third World level. They would be cast
onto the 'playing fields of the world economy' - unprecedented in
brutality - with predictable results. (We have seen it all in
Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Central America, etc. How many times
does it have to happen?)

"Free markets" are not free when the market is
dominated by superrich financial giants from the US and Germany,
etc. It's no level playing field. Sort of like putting a champion
heavyweight boxer in the ring with a talented welterweight who,
moreover, has been ill (from sanctions!) and then telling them:
"Now compete fair and square, boys!"- "Compete
freely!"

How would the auto workers in the bombed Kraujavac factory
compete with automated factories in Detroit and Stuttgart after
Kostunica's team imposes the G17 program of "integration
into all regional political and economic activity, with an
emphasis on free trade"?

These auto workers would soon be starving, just as factory
workers now starve in Bulgaria.

4) It calls for the imposition of the International Monetary
Fund, with its rat's nest of discredited economic remedies, which
have ruined the lives of millions of people in Russia, Indonesia,
South Korea - just for starters.

5) It doesn't mention the responsibility of the US and Europe
for the billions of dollars of destruction and human suffering
caused by last year's 78 day bombing. It disregards the criminal
conduct of the US and NATO in Kosovo and Montenegro. The West is
now training snipers in Montenegro to assassinate Yugoslav army
officers - a fact admitted by the British paper, the "Independent."
Yet the plan that Kostunica has endorsed talks of Montenegro, a
Republic whose government is in multiple violation of the
Yugoslav constitution (e.g., by refusing to take part in the
common defense) as if it were the abused party and Serbia's
government the abuser.

6) It advocates a new constitution which would legalize
autonomy for Kosovo and Vojvodina and the federalization of
Serbia, meaning the weakening of central government. Thus the
picking-off of pieces of Serbia, e.g., the Sandjak region in the
south, would be facilitated.

The US and Germany have been working all out to destroy
Yugoslavia for ten years. This was made vividly clear in the
interview with then US Ambassador to Yugoslavia Warren Zimmerman,
given to a Croatian newspaper in the early days of 1992. (3)

But let us for the moment put aside this fact, that the US and
Germany have launched a ten year attack on Yugoslavia. Forget
that, and consider what Prof. Michel Chossudovsky has said about
the effect of IMF-type measures, when imposed on any country.
Remember, the plan is full of IMF-type measures - and it also
endorses entering the IMF economic orbit, adopting IMF "reforms"
in order to get loans.

Prof. Chossudovsky points out that the imposition of these IMF/World
Bank conditions on national states leads to their falling apart
and sliding into ethnic warfare. Now, imagine how much worse this
could be in Yugoslavia, where the West has been pushing ethnic
group hostility for ten years. Clearly, the weakening of central
power plus the economic nation-busting methods of the IMF (described
by Prof.Chossudovsky below) plus the covert actions of the US and
Germany and their agents, who riddle the coalition Kostunica
represents and who would riddle his administration - all these
would combine to produce a state of war which would bring
horrendous suffering. This could happen quite apart from any
wishes of Kostunica. He would be a weak force, easily cast aside,
dependent for his political strength on a coalition riddled with
people receiving US government cash, gangsters (the Montenegrin
leadership and Djindjic) who also take US cash, and secessionists
who would become far more aggressive when "their" side
won the election.

[Quote] "- they destabilize the country because in
order to have a country there must be fiscal coherence, a
system of fiscal transfers. So in a place like Indonesia,
each of these islands becomes a small state. And of course
now the idea of going it alone becomes far more attractive to
the many different ethnic groups. Of course they [that is,
the planners] are fully aware of this - they have made it
happen time and again. It took place in Yugoslavia [My note:
does it have to take place AGAIN?] ; it took place in Brazil;
it took place in the former Soviet Union where the regions
are left to their own devices because Moscow doesn't transfer
any money." [End quote] (From "The IMF and World
Bank, Two of Several Instruments of National Destruction"
by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky at www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/instru.htm
)

What about 'Yugoslavia'? The program barely mentions the
"Y" word. It calls for "The prompt resolution of
succession questions with ex-Yugoslav republics and, on that
basis, the acquisition of necessary financial means that will
make possible membership in the European Union."

What does this really mean? There has been an eight year long
freeze on solving these questions. The War Party says: "You
are a brand new country." The Yugoslavs say: "No, we
are the successor state. The other five guys left."

What can "prompt resolution" possibly mean except
the acceptance of US Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke's
conditions: agreement that Yugoslavia no longer exists, with the
resulting loss of $20 billion in assets including embassies, the
Yugoslav navy, the air force, a ship that is presently being held
by the US, and so on.

Having a tiny party, Kostunica has to use his partners, the US-funded
opposition, for the organization and personnel to conduct an
election. Remember, Djindjic said "WE" have to run one
candidate. Has Djindjic become a charity service? Is his attitude:
"Let's all us guys help Kostunica and ask for nothing in
return!" - ?

More likely: "Ask for everything in return!"

Zoran Djindjic and the other US-dominated forces would expect
to get, and they would get, the dominant positions in a Kostunica
government. That's how politics works.

Let's consider this matter of government staffing a bit more.
Some see the smallness of Mr. Kostunica's party as a virtue. It's
part of the "he's untainted" argument - he's got a tiny
group because he never got his hands dirty, etc. Perhaps. But his
smallness makes him unable to provide the forces needed to run
Yugoslavia.

Mr. Kostunica is hardly a charismatic figure; he can't inspire
mass participation on a grass roots level. But the US-paid
opposition with which he is allied, which cosigned with him the G17
program for giving away Yugoslavia, and who provide the manpower
for his election campaign, has the numbers to provide government
staffing. Moreover, their US paymasters want them to staff the
government.

Vuk Draskovic's party is running independently on the first
ballot. All the worse. It will almost surely support Kostunica in
a runoff with Milosevich - but at a price. The price is lots of
government positions, on all levels. Thus Kostunica would, if
elected, be in a very weak position even if, and this is a heck
of an 'if', he had the nerve to resist the US goals called for in
the G17 program. And remember, he has endorsed the program. So
why would he fight it?

And so the entire network of US-controlled NGO's (non-governmental
organizations) fake-independent media, student organizations
trained by the CIA (like Otpor) would of necessity provide the
personnel for his administration. The US would then be in a
position, for the first time, to infiltrate its "independent
democratic forces" into high government positions. What a
vindication for Clinton! (4)

And remember, this would take place in the context of a) the
devastation caused by the G17 economic program, with its
resulting ethnic strife and b) the "federalization" of
the state. We would see the destruction of national coherence and
the unleashing of even worse ethnic conflict than we have already
seen. With results potentially genocidal in proportions. This is
what the US elite wants in Yugoslavia. They want to prove to
other countries, who may be inspired by the Yugoslav resistance,
that such resistance leads to absolute misery and ethnic strife.
To achieve that result the US government must install some of its
paid operatives (who abound in Belgrade, in political parties, in
NGOs and in "independent" media subsidized by Soros and
owned by Western elite institutions) in the Yugoslav
administration.

Some people say the US needs to keep Milosevich in power
because they've demonized him. In fact, over the past two or
three years the Milosevich government has become a major pain the
neck for the US. It has not fallen for provocations. It handled
Rambouillet brilliantly. It is a symbol of the possibility of
resistance. It is infinitely better for the US elite to have
their own direct agents in power. Then they can play both ends -
creating ethnic provocations while destroying the economy and
thus producing tension and fighting, thus allowing the constant
intervention of NATO troops, hunting of Serb "war criminals",
massacres of troublesome Serbs and other Yugoslav loyalists by
the KLA (who would make their way all over Serbia soon after the
ascension to power of US agents.) Kostunica's pro-secessionist
supporters in the Sandjak would be pushed further into bed with
the KLA because the increasing US power within Yugoslavia would
increase the prestige of US proxy force. NATO (perhaps including
Croatian forces, since Croatia has now joined up as Junior NATO)
could hunt down non-Serbian refugees (loyalist Muslims from
Bosnia, loyalists Croats and loyalist Albanians and others from
Kosovo) as war crimes suspects whose names would miraculously
appear on a "secret list" whenever the US/NATO wished
to remove them from the scene. (As happens in Bosnia). And so on.
Dante's Hell.

All this is so much easier if the US government can get its
already-paid people into power. Finally these guys would have to
produce for their millions! Milo Djukanovic in Montenegro is
relying on secessionist Albanians and pro-fascist Croatians for
much of his political base. Why would it be any different if the
"opposition" which is intimately tied to Djukanovic
gets into power all over Yugoslavia? These are precisely the
types of forces who would rise to the top under a government
which had Kostunica as its initial fig leaf. Exactly as they rose
to the top in Kosovo.

Some say: "All of Serbia's political leaders have
discredited themselves in this past difficult decade -- except
Kostunica. Unlike the others, Kostunica is considered patriotic,
honest and serious."

There are two different statements here. On the second - yes,
Kostunica is considered by many Serbs to be "patriotic
honest and serious." But that doesn't mean his deeds have
not IN PRACTICE tainted him. By running as the candidate of the
US-funded "opposition" what has Kostunica done? He has
lent his respected name to provide cover to people who would
otherwise be totally discredited - and discredited for good
reason. He has made the classic error of the isolated
intellectual. Like Goethe's hero, Faust, he has signed a deal
with the Devil (the US elite). Perhaps he fools himself that he
is still independent. The Devil will collect all the same.

The Western media says that Vuk Draskovic and Zoran Djindjic
and Milo Djukanovic have a bad image. No! It's not an "image"!
It's a bad FACT. They have taken millions of dollars from the US
and are doing what US covert agencies tell them to do. That being
the case, of course this united candidacy was planned in
Washington.

Why hasn't Kostunica denounced his coalition allies for taking
US dollars? When the US announced it was setting up an office in
Budapest to aid the Yugoslav "opposition", Kostunica
attacked the US for supposedly trying to discredit him and his
allies by this ostentatious display of assistance. Huh? Was this
the first time the US aided these guys? This was a pimple on a
mountain of US aid. The US has given these guys a tenth of a
billion dollars - a fortune in Yugoslavia. Was this money all
given to discredit the opposition? In other words, does the US
give people money because it wants them to lose (Kostunica's
allies) and attack them mercilessly cause it wants them to win (Milosevich)?

That is preposterous. The truth, as usual, is simple. The US
has given money to the "opposition" figures because it
needs to buy their loyalty. Absent the money and these guys would
tell the US to get lost. And they have to do it ostentatiously
because they do not run Yugoslavia. So they need to set up
organizations, hold meetings outside the country, and so on. It's
hard for the US government to pump 100 million dollars into a
small, poor country and do it in secret.

Janissaries

This lavish use of money is linked to what could be called a
Janissary strategy. The old Ottoman Empire used this strategy to
control the Serbs. They would kidnap Serbian children, bring them
to Turkey at a young age, raise him as Muslims, and then send
them back as part of an elite army of Janissaries. They didn't do
this with a few children. They literally harvested children to
provide their Janissary special troops.

This happens today, though of course the appearance is
different. This is in essence what the US elite does with young
people from all over the world, especially Yugoslavia. These
children and young adults are literally (or figuratively, by
means of TV and movies) brought to the US and other Western
capitals and dazzled with glamour and glitz, with superficiality
made into a virtue - and then sent back to dumb old Yugoslavia.
You can see these young Yugoslavs at elite US universities -
aloof, super cool, ashamed of their country. Ashamed of dumb old
Yugoslavia that has more richness of culture than all Western
Europe and the US put together. Full of grubby farmers and
outmoded economic notions etc. etc. In Belgrade these Janissaries
flock to institutions such as "free" radio B292. I
interviewed two staff members from B292. The interviews are
posted on Emperor's Clothes. These young people have the attitude
of smug treason. Consider this exchange with Gordan Paunovic:

" Jared: [Are you getting any] money coming from
foundations in the US?

"Paunovic: Probably, but I don't know which Foundations.
I am pretty much pissed off in putting this kind of
argumentation, like Soros equals B92. That really comes from
people who are not in a position to see what we are doing. We
will take money from anyone. To make a good production on many
levels, from radio, to TV and video productions to Internet,
Books, music. You need money."

Elsewhere he says:

" Paunovic: And another thing I don't like the way we are
- Like Robin Cook and Jamie Shea they made a huge damage to our
image when Robin Cooke said in a Press Conference which was
directly broadcast on CNN "You know we helped B92 to get
satellite access" and things like that."

But then he and the news editor, whom I also interviewed,
admitted it was true. It was true they were getting time on the
BBC satellite - the BBC, which supported the bombing of
Yugoslavia. But Gordan scorns those who think there's anything
shameful about this. After all, one needs money to do glamorous
things. Note that these people take vast sums from those who wish
to destroy their country and then even complain about the people
who give the money!

This Janissary mentality, convinced of personal superiority,
contemptuous of the ordinary people of Yugoslavia, must be
supplied with much money. Absent lots of money and it fails. The
new global culture is: money and a paint job. That's for the
lucky few. The unlucky don't even get the paint job.

And because the Janissaries are taught to scorn the backward (i.e.
truly cultured) soul of their country they perform as useful
tools. Hooked on the most superficial aspects of Western life, in
their hearts they can justify anything. Anything. No price is too
high for other people to pay for "modernizing" (i.e.
subjugating) their country.

The plain fact is, the base of the three parties in power -
the JUL, the Socialist Party and the Radical party - are the
people most strongly opposed to the US attempt to destroy the
Serbian people as a political force. There's just no way around
that fact. Some people picture this elections as left vs. right.
I think that's mistaken. The JUL may seem to be left and the
Radical Party may seem to be right, but both have defended
Yugoslav sovereignty! That is the basis of their unity, despite
big differences. The other side has no real politics except the
dollar - all is up for sale. They can be liberal, they can be
conservative, they can be socialist - who cares? It's all image,
created with smoke and mirrors. "All is money; all is
garbage."

The issue here is not Mr. Kostunica vs. Mr. Milosevich. It is
rather, which political forces can defend Yugoslav sovereignty?
Milosevich's allies and base, including for example the splendid
negotiating team at Rambouillet, is, in fact, the core of
resistance to NATO. These are the people that have made
astounding progress rebuilding Serbia after the 78 day bombing
campaign. Diaspora Serbs who have recently visited their country
are amazed at the extent of reconstruction. IF these forces were
to lose power, for it is they, not one man, Milosevich, who are
in power, if they were to be replaced with the Janissary-mentality,
US-purchased "democratic opposition" for which Mr.
Kostunica has tragically provided a veneer, disaster could follow.

Because the US is not after Milosevich. It wishes to remove
from the scene, once and for all, the soul of Serbian resistance.
In order to remove this militant core, USA covert agents need to
get their hands on governmental positions in Serbia. Then they
can manipulate events far more effectively than from outside.
They can stage convincing provocations. They can stage political
theater, controlling the troublemakers AND the police! 'Events'
can easily be created to overcome the current resistance of
European public opinion to bombing Yugoslavia or the stationing
of NATO forces not only in Kosovo, but in the rest of Serbia as
well. (This process would be aided by the G17 program, which
calls for cutting Yugoslavia's relatively small military budget.
In any event, the military would be hobbled by the deteriorating
economic situation and the demand, made in Kostunica's program,
for a balanced budget - a demand that is simply absurd in the
context of Yugoslavia's economy. )

With US-dominated forces in the Yugoslav administration, a
weakened and confused army under command of quislings, massive
infiltration of the country by KLA elements, the possible
stationing of Croatian government troops (as part of Croatia's
new role as part of Junior NATO) - all this would enable internal
strife and great suffering.

And it would discourage us all, it would discourage the
hundreds of millions (or perhaps several billion) people,
throughout the world, for whom little Yugoslavia has provided the
example, the evidence that we need not let the new US-German
Empire of Greed crush our own cultures and our sovereignty, and
make us slaves.

By standing up to the US bully, they have given us back our
dignity.

***

FOOTNOTES & FURTHER READING...

The articles and documents below are posted on the Emperor's
Clothes website. If you not have access to a computer, please
call us at 617 916-1705 (in the US) between 10AM and 4PM Eastern
Standard Time and order copies of any article(s). These can be
sent to you by mail or by fax..

(1) On July 29, 1999 the US Senate held hearings to discuss
how the US government could best use the Serbian "opposition"
to further US goals. Emperor's Clothes has posted a transcript of
the testimony, which is hair raising. It shows that for the US
leadership, words like "democratic" and "independent"
mean that people in other countries will act as US agents against
the needs of their own people. The Senate testimony, entitled
"PROSPECTS FOR DEMOCRACY IN YUGOSLAVIA" can be read
read in full at http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/hearin.htm

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